Paola Ferri

Paola Ferri (1438-) was a citizen of the Republic of Florence and the Madame of the La Rosa Colta brothel during the Renaissance era.

Biography
Paola Ferri was born in Florence, Republic of Florence in 1438, and she was orphaned at age eight when both of her parents were killed at sea. Rather than turn to nunnery or prostitution, Ferri began a life on the streets, vanishing from records in 1454. However, she was arrested for murdering a member of the Florentine Guard in 1458, and Giovanni Auditore da Firenze represented her in court, winning the case by arguing that she did so in self-defense. After her release from prison, she established the La Rosa Colta brothel to save other unfortunate women from the streets, and her younger sister Annetta Ferri would later come to serve the House of Auditore as a servant. In 1476, she decided to assist the young Ezio Auditore da Firenze with protecting his mother and sister after his father and brothers were executed by the House of Pazzi, as she knew what betrayal felt like (she had grisly burn marks on her arm). Ferri trained Auditore in stealth and lowering notoriety, and she assisted him with his murder of Uberto Alberti. In 1488, she attended Auditore's initiation into the Hashshashin in Venice, and she was one of the leaders of the uprising against Girolamo Savonarola in 1497. In 1499, she helped with distracting Pope Alexander VI's guards as Auditore headed to assassinate him in Rome, and she would later become a leader of the Assassins, being alive in 1512.